The chicken cheats

It might look plump and succulent on the plate, but the chicken served up in hundreds of restaurants has a distinctly watery taste.

An investigation has revealed that 60 per cent of chicken breast samples taken from catering suppliers were pumped up with fluid, artificial chemicals and even material from pig and cow skin.

The 'doctored' meat is then sold in curry houses, Chinese restaurants and other takeaways across Britain.

The massive fraud involving ' plastic' chicken - so-called because of complaints that it is spongy, rubbery and tasteless - was uncovered by the Food Standards Agency.

It found that tons of cheap meat is being dumped in the UK by processors on the Continent, mainly in Holland, who are making fat profits from the consignments while authorities do little to stop them.

Some 15 of 25 chicken samples tested by laboratories here were not what they claimed to be on the label because they had been pumped up

with water and chemicals. Twelve samples were found to have traces of foreign animalDNA - 11 of them testing positive for pork and one for beef.

The 11 specimens containing pork DNA were labelled as Halal, which falsely suggested they were suitable for Moslems who, for religious reasons, are not allowed to eat any pork or pig product.

The FSA findings will also alarm many Jewish families, who also do not eat pork.

Strict followers of the faith eat only kosher chicken slaughtered according to religious ritual.

However, other Jewish people often eat chicken from restaurants and takeaways especially to avoid pork.

During the investigation, trading standards officers found that as much as 40 per cent of the weight of what looked like a natural chicken breast could be added water.

The raw meat is either injected with liquid or 'tumbled' in a vast machine containing a water and chemical mix.

Chemicals, including salt and hydrolysed protein from chicken, pig and cow skin, are designed to bind the water into the flesh of the meat.

Because the water washes out any natural taste from the chicken, the chemical mixes now include a range of artificial flavours, E numbers and even sugar.

As much as 60,000 tons of the watered chicken is imported into the UK every year, which is equivalent to 40 per cent of this type of meat sold to caterers.

David Statham, director of enforcement at the FSA, said: 'We know consumers are not always getting what they pay for and are determined to stamp this out.

'The motive of the processors is economic. If you can effectively sell water at the same price as chicken breast that has got to be quite profitable.

'The idea is to mislead the consumer into believing they are getting a nice, succulent piece of chicken when actually they are being given watered-down meat.'

John Sanford, of Hull Trading Standards, which has been the leading authority investigating the scandal, said: 'We have had many complaints about the quality of this chicken after it turns up in a takeaway or restaurant.

'Consumers have told us it is spongy and rubbery and does not taste like normal chicken.'

Local councils nationwide are now considering prosecuting UK wholesalers and importers of the meat. They face fines of up to £20,000 per offence.

The FSA is also calling on the Dutch authorities to prosecute firms involved in the chicken fraud.